Z Island Series | Book 3 | Survivors of Z Island [Retribution Part 1]

by Osborne Jr. , Terrence

  Eddy refused to say another word to her. He simply walked out of the room and everyone stood quiet. Eve looked at the group and turned around as the men slammed the door behind them. Everyone exhaled and started walking around, but Jess couldn’t stop staring at the blood on the ground. It was all she could focus on. The blood stood as a reminder that anything could happen to them at any given moment.

  ─

  Eddy followed behind Eve and wondered where she was leading him. Many ideas ran through his mind: what if he would just fight them now? What if he zoned out again and get himself killed? What if it works?

  Nothing he thought made any sense to him, no matter how hard he wanted to believe it. Eve led them outside the dorms in the back to a small camp next to the auditorium. It was unusual to see an area like this in the middle of the community, but as they got closer, he knew it wasn’t a camp.

  “This is what you will do for me.”

  Eddy’s couldn’t look away from the pile of bodies in the center of a cannibalistic feast by her men. There were pillories that circled around the campfire with people strapped to them, barely alive. Their skin had been peeled off and placed over the fires for Eve and her men to consume. Eddy couldn’t look away, and he couldn’t stop thinking about what he saw with a similar group when they took the kids.

  “You are sick!”

  “We’re sane. We’re surviving. Isn’t that the point?” Eve garbed her knife and handed it to him, “This is what you will be doing.”

  Eddy stared at the knife, “What?”

  “You’re going to help feed my people.”

  “No, I can’t do that.”

  Eve’s men grabbed both his arms and held them against his back as Eve crept towards him and placed the knife at his throat, “I am starting to get sick of you and your pathetic group denying my requests. Do it again and I’ll kill one of them. Understood?”

  Eddy, breathing heavily, looked away and exhaled, “Okay.”

  “Good boy. Start with that woman there.”

  Eve’s men let him go and he grabbed the knife from Eve’s filthy hands. On impulse, he wanted to slit her throat and be done with this horror, but he thought about the group first. He knew they would die, and it would have been because of him. The woman stood across from him; her eyes were bloodshot read and her body was covered in blood. Her blood. Most of her flesh was gone. Her legs and most of her torso showed nothing but muscle, and it was a sight Eddy had never seen before. Blood tears had dried on her cheeks and she could barely lift her head to tell Eve and her men to stop. The men feasted on the cooked flesh as Eddy slowly crept up to the woman. Her eyes quickly glanced at him and held her head down crying. Her cry was so soft and painful. Weak. Tired. Eddy approached her and slowly wrapped his fingers around the knife.

  “Please…don’t…” she pleaded.

  “I’m sorry. I really am. I have to.”

  Eddy cut the woman’s back and began to peel her skin off. Her scream was muffled by the pain in her voice, and her body could barely move. The blood had spewed everywhere while Eddy tried to keep focused. Feeling her body shake and her screeching scream forced him to close his eyes and stop cutting. His breathing started to become unbearable, but he grabbed his arm from shaking and tried to control his breathing. He felt Eve staring at him, but he didn’t turn around to look at her. He finally managed to breathe properly and gripped the knife. He exhaled through his nose and began to cut the woman again.

  ─

  Marcus stared at the door and wondered if Eddy was okay, “Do you guys think he’s okay?”

  “I really hope so.” Jess answered.

  “What does she have him doing?” Faith asked.

  “I have no idea. Whatever it is, it can’t possibly be good.” Marcus muffled.

  The door opened and Eddy walked in, but he was not himself. He was covered in blood and he couldn’t look at any of them. Marcus was the first one to approach him, but Eddy kept staring ahead.

  “Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

  Eddy slowly looked at him, “I’ve done something I never want to do again. I can’t.”

  “Eddy, what happened?” Jess asked.

  “These people…they’re cannibals. They made me…this poor woman…”

  “Eddy,” Marcus held his head up and looked him in the eyes, “what did she make you do?”

  “She made me feed them.” Eddy teared up.

  “What? What does that mean?”

  “Did you have to kill someone?” James asked.

  “They carve people’s skin and cook it. I had to skin a lady alive and feed them! Who does that?” Eddy cried.

  Marcus instantly hugged Eddy and held him tightly. Jess and the others surrounded him as he cried on Marcus’s shoulders.

  “I’m so sorry Eddy.” Marcus sighed.

  “We’ll get out of here. I promise you all.” Jess promised.

  “Come on. Let’s all get some rest. I know it’s hard, but we have to stick together from now on.” Faith said.

  ─

  Jess slowly opened her eyes with confusion; the birds chirping overfilled her ears as she stared up into a clear blue sky. She didn’t move an inch; she just sat there. She didn’t know what was going on, but for a strange reason, her body was relaxed, and she felt content. Suddenly, she heard the calming rush of waves ahead of her. She sat up and noticed people standing at the edge of the beach. That’s when she finally looked around and tried to understand where she was. She was on the island. She was frightened because of it but seeing those people on the beach made her curious. As she walked towards them, they each turned around, revealing to be those she had lost and knew during the apocalypse. Sam, Trace, Dylan, Mellissa, David, Sarah, Julie, Austin, and Tina all smiled at her, which took her by surprise.

  “Hey, Jess. We’ve been waiting for you to come here for a while.” Julie said.

  “How are you all here?”

  “We’ve always been here. I can’t believe it’s really you,” Sam replied as he walked towards her and placed his warm hands on her cheeks, “I’ve missed you.”

  “I’ve missed you too.”

  Sam kisses Jess and they both get lost in their love, ignoring everything around them and forgetting where they were. However, the clouds above them began to darken, and the winds became stronger. Jess opened her eyes and noticed the water was red and everyone was floating in the water dead. Sam turned around noticed the bodies too, but when he turned around, Jess had decomposed. He screamed and jumped back, but she slowly walked towards him, crying, and reaching out for him.

  “Sam!” her voice echoed.

  “Jess, what’s happening?” Sam asked.

  Jess’s body started turning into ash, but Sam quickly stood up and rushed to her, but it was too late. She had disappeared. Her ashes had attached to his hands as he dropped to his knees and started crying. Among his crying, he heard a distinctive voice coming from every direction. He didn’t know what it was saying or who was saying it. As the sound became clearer, the voice got louder.

  “Sam!”

  Sam opened his eyes and jumped up. He grabbed his chest and tried to control his breathing. An older, more rugged man approached him and patted his back.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Same dream?”

  “Same dream.”

  The man sighed and stood up, “A new group was brought in today.”

  “What new group?”

  “Apparently, Eve found others to use as her slaves. One of them even fought in the cage.”

  “This early?”

  “Yeah, I guess they must’ve really pissed Eve off.”

  “My God. We have to get out of here Manny.”

  “I don’t think you remember what happened last time we tried that.”

  “Oh, I remember,” Sam stood up and looked at him, “this time, we’ll do it right.”

  IV

  NEW RECRUITS

  Sam stared at
Jess’s ring as it swirled in the air and watched her pick it up while zombies surrounded him. He was prepared to go back to his mom and family. His bloody hand reached out to them as the zombies closed in on him, but he felt something drop next to his right shoulder. When he looked over, it was a decapitated zombie. Suddenly, he started to wonder if Jess and the others came back for him. Zombies started dropping all around him and a sharp pain struck his wound. Sam screamed aloud and started to faint. Before he went black, he glanced up at the person dragging him away, but he couldn’t get a good look at them. One thing he knew for sure, it wasn’t Jess or anyone from his group.

  ─

  Voices echoed in his ears, alerting him to wake up. He looked around to figure out where he was. The room was covered in newspaper and boards. The smell was unbearable and there was blood scattered all around the room. Sam tried to sit up, but he was chained to the bed. His wound was healing, but blood still tracked its way through the bandages. He started to yank on the board he was chained to, but someone stood up from the corner of the room and walked over to him. The man stood tall and built, but Sam wasn’t intimidated. He stopped and just looked at the man.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “Cut the shit! What’s his plan?” the man insisted.

  “What?”

  The man pulled a large knife from his pocket and pressed it against his chest, “Jason, what’s his plan?”

  “How the fuck am I supposed to know? We were trying to kill him!”

  The man kept staring at Sam, but a woman came rushing in and stopped him, “Stop! I know him! It’s fine!”

  Sam raised up and smirked a bit, “Christine?”

  “Sam,” she said as she rushed to hug him.

  Sam grunted in pain, but he ignored it and hugged her back. She helped him stand, but he still felt the pain from his wound.

  “How did you end up here? Where have you been?”

  “Guys, give us a minute please.”

  The men nodded and walked out of the room while Christine sat down across from Sam.

  “When we got attacked at the community, I couldn’t take it anymore. I just ran away from the problem as fast as I could. Don’t know how far I’ve gotten before I ran into this group. Ever since then, I’ve been with them. I’m not the person to fight and I’m very sorry.”

  “So how did you manage to find me? How far am I from home?”

  “Quite away from home Sam. They were out scouting for supplies. Apparently, they ran into the middle of a fight with you guys and Jason. They thought you were one of the bad guys and captured you.”

  “None of this makes any sense. So instead of trying to find us and let us know you were safe and helping us, you just ran away? All that we’ve done, and you just leave like that?”

  “Sam, I’m-”

  “It’s fine! I just…I want to see Jess and the others now. I have to go.”

  “Sam, I’m sorry but you can’t go.”

  “What?”

  “This group is very secretive. No one knows where we are, and they like to keep it that way.”

  “So, why take me? Why risk getting involved with us and Jason? Don’t you think they’re keeping something from you?”

  “No, Sam they’re safe.”

  “No, fuck that. None of this sounds right Christine! I have to go! And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get back home. Just let me go.”

  “They won’t let you.”

  “Christine, right now I don’t care! I’m getting home and there’s nothing they could do about it. Wait, how long have I been here?”

  “About two weeks.”

  “Two weeks? How?”

  “Sam, you were practically dead when we finally got you here. You weren’t in the best condition.”

  “I really have to go!”

  The door opened and a man walked in. He was average built, but his appearance was far from imperfect. His suit was well cleaned, trimmed down to the foot and the black color made him more intimidating through the shadows.

  “I heard they took you from a nasty fight happening.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Simon. I run this community here and we take considerable pride in our survival.”

  “That’s great, can I go now?”

  “I don’t think that’s happening at the moment.”

  Sam tried to stand up quickly, but his wound shot pain through his body, forcing him to take his time, “You don’t understand. That fight your guys took me from, it may still be going on. I have family there! My wife! I can’t stay here!”

  “We saved you! From what I can see, you can’t go anywhere in your condition. Once you get better, we can set you on your way. Until then, you can pay your dues.”

  “You have me misunderstood. I didn’t ask to be saved. Therefore, I don’t owe you anything.”

  The man smiled and rubbed his hands together, “It’s been a long time since I’ve met someone like you, but you’ll come around. Pay your dues and you get to go home. Sounds fair.”

  “And if I say no?”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  The man walked forward and extended his hand to Sam, but he just looked at the man. He saw the pretending look in his bright eyes and perfect smile and shook his hand.

  “Great! I think you’ll love it here!”

  The man walked out of the room and Christine looked at him, “Sorry Sam.”

  Sam stopped smiling and stared at her, “All I know is, you better pray I get to go back home. For all of your sake.”

  ─

  The next morning, Sam woke up and at once felt his wound. It was still painful, but the swelling was going down and the bleeding had almost stopped. He sat up in the bed and rubbed his face, but Christine came in and stared at him.

  “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I guess. I need to speak with that man from yesterday…”

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Christine, yes I’m sure! I left behind family and friends. I’m not like you.”

  “I’ll go get him.” Christine mumbled as she stormed out of the room.

  Sam stood up and paced around the room, thinking of flashbacks from the fight with Jason, almost losing his life. The sight of Jess turning around and leaving him was exactly what he wanted, but the fact that they believe he’s dead makes him feel very dreadful. He constantly glanced at the door and waited for someone to walk in, but the room was quiet. The steady ring in his ear bothered him, but he couldn’t get out of his own head. Simon walked inside, smiling and glaring at Sam, but he was not in a joking mood.

  “Sam, I heard you wanted to talk to me.”

  “Cut the bullshit! I need to go! No, in fact I’m leaving! You can’t stop me.”

  “Sam, I’d rather not do this now…”

  Simon snapped his fingers and two men rushed inside with guns and pointed them at Sam. He couldn’t do anything but scoffs and stare at Simon.

  “All of this to keep a secret?”

  “It’s necessary.”

  “It’s stupid! You took me! I didn’t ask for this!”

  “Well, Christine took you. Her and a few others with soft hearts.”

  Sam looked at Christine, but she had simply looked down in shame.

  “So, knowing that, you’re still deciding to keep me here?”

  “I believe you could be of value for my community.”

  “Yeah, like what?”

  “A fighter. Someone who knows how to fight the zombies and can retrieve things from outside these walls.”

  “You want me to help you find supplies?”

  “Yes. Do this for me and I’ll send you home.”

  “What’s the catch? Suddenly you want to make a deal, so it doesn’t sit right with me.”

  “No catch. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. Simple as that.”

  Sam took a second and thought about his offer, “Where do you need me to go?”

  “Th
ere’s an abandoned building downtown. A place where we make a trade with another community. You’ll be given ammo to bring with you for the exchange. It should be a simple in and out job. Do that, and you’re free to go.”

  “When does the deal happen?”

  “Tomorrow night. I trust you’ll be healed enough.”